Houses shouldered so closely to the wall that halfway down the stair, he found himself within arm's length of a window and halted to peer in. There were no bars, and the silk curtains were caught back with satin cords. He looked into a chamber whose walls were hidden by dark velvet tapestries. The floor was covered with thick rugs, and there were benches of polished ebony and an ivory dais heaped with furs.

He was about to continue his descent (он /уже/ собирался продолжать спуск; to be about to — намереваться), when he heard the sound of someone approaching in the street below (когда он услышал звук, словно кто-то приближается по улице внизу). Before the unknown person could round a corner and see him on the stair (прежде чем неизвестная личность смогла свернуть за угол и увидеть его на лестнице), he stepped quickly across the intervening space and dropped lightly into the room (он быстро шагнул через разделяющее пространство и легко опустился в комнату; to intervene — вмешиваться; находиться между; lightly — слегка; легко, без труда; to drop — капать; опускаться), drawing his scimitar (обнажая кривую саблю; to draw — рисовать; выхватывать, обнажать /об оружии/). He stood for an instant statue-like (мгновение он стоял /неподвижно/, как статуя); then, as nothing happened (затем, так как ничего не произошло), he was moving across the rugs toward an arched doorway (он двинулся по коврам к арочному дверному проему), when a hanging was drawn aside (когда портьера была отдернута в сторону; hanging — смертная казнь через повешение; портьера;to draw aside — отводить в сторону), revealing a cushioned alcove (открыв альков с подушками) from which a slender, dark-haired girl regarded him with languid eyes (с которого его разглядывала томными глазами стройная, темноволосая девушка; languid — слабый, ослабевший; вялый; медлительный).

descent [dɪˈsent], intervening [ˌɪntəˈvi:nɪŋ], languid [ˈlæŋɡwɪd]

He was about to continue his descent, when he heard the sound of someone approaching in the street below. Before the unknown person could round a corner and see him on the stair, he stepped quickly across the intervening space and dropped lightly into the room, drawing his scimitar. He stood for an instant statue-like; then, as nothing happened, he was moving across the rugs toward an arched doorway, when a hanging was drawn aside, revealing a cushioned alcove from which a slender, dark-haired girl regarded him with languid eyes.